Joseph Desha

Joseph Desha (9 December 1768-11 October 1842) was a member of the US House of Representatives (DR-KY 6) from 4 March 1807 to 3 March 1813 (succeeding George M. Bedinger and preceding Solomon P. Sharp) and from KY-4 from 4 March 1813 to 3 March 1819 (succeeding Richard Mentor Johnson and preceding Thomas Metcalfe), as well as Governor of Kentucky from 24 August 1824 to 26 August 1828 (succeeding John Adair and preceding Thomas Metcalfe).

Biography
Joseph Desha was born in Monroe County, Pennsylvania in 1768 to a family of Huguenot ancestry; he was the brother of Robert Desha. The family later settled near Gallatin, Tennessee, where they fought in many skirmishes with the Native Americans. Two of Desha's brothers were killed in the conflicts, so Desha volunteered for Anthony Wayne's campaign against the natives in the Northwest Indian War. He then resettled in Mason County, Kentucky, where he joined the state legislature. Desha went on to serve in the US House of Representatives from 1807 to 1819, supporting the War of 1812 and commanding a division at the Battle of the Thames. He made an unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in 1820, but he won in 1824 by promising debt relief for those affected by the Panic of 1819. After the Kentucky Court of Appeals voted down the debt relief laws, Desha and the legislature abolished the court and created a new one, leading the Old Court-New Court controversy, in which the old court continued to exist alongside its new replacement. Desha's popularity later crumbled when he fired the President of Transylvania University for being an ally of his rival Henry Clay and when he pardoned his suicidal son for murder. After he left office, his opponents abolished his new court, ending the controversy. He died in Georgetown in 1842.